After SF vote, other cities may divest from Big Oil

It’s still in the very early stages, but the movement among city governments to drop their investments in oil and coal companies may be picking up steam.

Photo: AP

A nationwide divestment campaign launched Thursday, with officials in 10 cities urging their fellow mayors and council members to ditch fossil fuel stocks. Supporters see divestment as a way to punish companies whose political clout has helped block federal climate change legislation, companies whose products are slowly warming the earth.

The movement scored a big win this week when San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to recommend that the city retirement fund divest its fossil fuel holdings. Next week, Berkeley’s City Council is expected to vote on a resolution asking California’s immense public employee retirement system, CalPERS, to do the same.

Berkeley already avoids investing city funds in fossil fuel companies, said Mayor Tom Bates. That isn’t a formal policy, but Tuesday’s resolution would begin the process of making it one.

“We don’t invest in guns or tobacco, and it turns out we don’t invest in oil, either,” he said. “But the real issue isn’t us — it’s CalPERS. They are major players.”

Two organizations are leading the divestment drive. One, the Mayors Innovation Project, is a network of politically progressive mayors who swap policy ideas on urban issues. The other, 350.org, is a climate campaign that has organized a growing divestment effort on college campuses.

In addition to Berkeley and San Francisco, the other cities so far include Bayfield, Wis.; Boulder, Colo.; Eugene, Ore.; Ithaca, NY; Madison, Wis.; Richmond, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; and State College, Penn.

Pursuing divestment, of course, is not the same as carrying it out. In San Francisco’s case, for example, the board of the city’s retirement fund will make the final decision on selling off $580 million of oil company stocks.